Merkel celebrates biggest ever win in German election

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will still be looking for coalition partners, despite being on course to celebrate the strongest election result since Helmut Kohl's post-reunification victory of 1990.

Her conservative party has won Germany's election, but finished just short of an absolute majority, according to official results. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) took about 42% of the vote, but she might still have to form a grand coalition with opposition party the Social Democrats (SPD), who won about 26%. Merkel earlier urged her party to celebrate "a super result" after exit polls suggested she was set to win an historic third term, the BBC reports. However, she will be disappointed by the poorer showing of her preferred partners,  the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), who won ...